VIRGINIA BEACH, Va (WAVY) — A long awaited plan to fix flooding problems in a Virginia Beach neighborhood has finally gotten the green light, along with more green from taxpayers.
Tuesday night the Virginia Beach City Council voted 9-0 (Councilwoman Abbott was on vacation) to enter into an agreement with the Ashville Park property owner, HomeFed Corporation, to make storm water runoff improvements.
As previously reported, additional retention ponds will be built, existing ponds will be expanded, a pump station will be added among other improvements to the upscale community sitting between Redmill and Pungo.
The difference lies in who is paying for it.
In an agreement crafted in the spring, Virginia Beach estimated phase I of the project improvements would cost $11.1 million. Developer HomeFed Corporation would pick up 28 percent of the cost of the work, or about $3.1 million. Taxpayers would fund the remaining $8 million.
However two weeks ago, disagreements on future development tabled the deal while the city manager and HomeFed worked one that would not call for an additional 200 homes, which would have brought the village total to 499.
The approved agreement now allows the developer a total of 455 lots, down 39 from the original agreement. However, the trade off is that the city will now be responsible for the cost of all the improvements.
HomeFed’s attorney Ed Bourdon told 10 On Your Side the original intent was to be able to build all the additional properties.
“But time is money,” Bourdon said after the vote Tuesday. “It’s been 3 1/2 years, it has been under study and we need to move it forward.”
The move is a victory for Councilwomen Barbara Henley, who has many constituents that don’t want to see more development in the rural area.
“They have 40 fewer houses that would have been built in a particularly low area. So I think that is a plus,” Henley said.
In leu of the construction costs, 17 acres of land previously set aside for the 39 homes will be given to the city at no cost. The property would allow for the construction of additional storm water infrastructure in the future.
In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew inundated most of Hampton Roads with rain. Ashville Park in particular saw 13 inches of rain, according to the City of Virginia Beach. Their stormwater drains couldn’t keep up, and retaining ponds put in as part of the drainage system continued to rise.
The construction is expected to begin next spring.